December saw a sharp fall in retail sales in the eurozone.
Sales over the Christmas period fell by 1% compared to the same time last year, and by 1.6% compared to November. This was the largest monthly drop in 2.5 years.
Both figures were much worse than analysts predicted.
Overall spending has not been this subdued since 2004.
Portugal suffered the worst monthly fall of all the 17 eurozone countries, dropping 5.8% in December compared to November, according to Eurostat.
The greatest increase in spending from all EU nations was in the United Kingdom.
The biggest annual decrease in sales was in Germany, where a drop of 2.4% was recorded in December 2013 compared to the previous December.
Overall, sales of food, drink and tobacco fell by 1.6% on an annual basis, while trade in non-food items, such as clothing, furniture, electrical goods and books, dropped by 0.4%.
Consumers are certainly not keen to spend, especially in light of high unemployment, even though many shops have cut their prices regularly over the last two years.
